Not time to panic but Dolphins preseason has been less than encouraging so far

On Friday night, the Dolphins fell to 0-2 during the preseason with a loss to the Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. While the Dolphins preseason record means nothing, the team hasn’t done much to make fans optimistic for the upcoming season.

Early in the game, Christian McCaffrey ran for a 71-yard touchdown. On the night, their defense gave up 226 yards rushing. The Dolphins defense would continue to give up big plays while their offense would have to settle for field goals outside of a Bryce Petty garbage-time touchdown.

“I don’t know if it’s so much sloppiness or just… we have to react a little quicker,” head coach Adam Gase said after the game. “That’s what happens when you practice in games. It’s different. You have to be quicker to react to things.”

Quarterback Ryan Tannehill’s stats look solid a the surface as he was 14-of-17 for 100 yards in two quarters of work. But the low yards per completion (5.9) is a cause for concern.

Some of it has to do with the vanilla play calling, which was a problem under Jay Cutler, who started because Tannehill missed the season due to ACL injury. The Dolphins offense was also stagnant inside the red zone as they had to settle for three first-half field goals.

While some people will say it is only the preseason, the Dolphins offense looks exactly the same as it did a year ago when the team finished 6-10. There was a lot of short passes along with a ton of penalties in the red zone. The Dolphins only had one completion for more than 15 yards.

“I think he was good,” Gase said about Tannehill’s performance. “We’ve just got to get quicker in and out of the huddle. He was sharp as far as his accuracy and his decision making. He wasn’t hesitant in anything. It seems we’re moving the ball the way we want to, we just have to make sure we finish the drives with touchdowns.”

Speaking of penalties, the Dolphins had eight of them on the night for 69 yards. It wasn’t exactly the number of penalties but when they committed the penalties. Left tackle Laremy Tunsil was called for a holding call after the Dolphins got the ball on the nine-yard line following a Xavien Howard interception. The Dolphins would have to settle for a field goal after the penalty.

Guard Issac Asiata, who didn’t play much as a rookie last week, was called for a holding call, which nullified a 33-yard run by Buddy Howell.

“I feel like we moved the ball and that we did what we were supposed to do, we moved the ball,” Ryan Tannehill said to reporters after the game. “Whenever we have penalties and take a 10-yard penalty down the red zone, it gets tough. We had a pass interference down there as well, two holding penalties, delay of game, it makes it tough. It’s going to be tough to score points whenever you are getting behind the chains like that. It is self-inflicted wounds that we can totally correct.”

The Dolphins will play their most important game of the preseason against the Ravens on Aug. 25. They will definitely need to show improvement as their regular season opener against the Titans on Sept. 9 draws closer.

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